COLUMBIA, Mo. - Carding a team score of 286 (-2), its best round of the Tiger Invitational, the NIU men's golf team finished second at The Club at Old Hawthorne Tuesday afternoon. All five Huskies in the lineup finished in the top-25 led by freshman Jordan Less' ninth place showing.

As a team, Northern Illinois University shot -6 on the back nine with four Huskies finishing under par. Matt Cholod, who shot -1 in the round to move into a tie for 21st, finished was the only Huskie to shoot even par on the back nine.

Less was -2 on the final nine holes, carding his second eagle of the tournament on the 10th to get back under par in the round. He amassed seven pars and birdied the 15th to lead NIU at +1 (217) in 54 holes. It is the first top-10 finish for Less in just his sixth collegiate competition.

Salvador Rocha, who finished right behind Less in 11th, was +2 in the tournament following his 74 in the final round. The sophomore carded a team-best four birdies including three on the back nine.

Charlie Cameron and Thomas DeMarco rounded out the group at +1 and par, respectively, with both players registering three birdies.

The runner-up finish is NIU's first in a 54-hole event since Sept. 26-27, 2012 at the Cardinal Intercollegiate in Louisville. It's also the fourth time under Director of Golf Tom Porten that Northern Illinois University has claimed second place.

Individually, the Tiger Invitational marked the second-straight tournament a Huskie finished in the top-10. Charlie Cameron, who tied for 15th in Columbia, finished in eighth place at the FAU Slomin Autism Championship March 24-26 to earn Mid-American Conference Golfer of the Week honors.

"Hats off to Mizzou, they were very skilled with their wedges throughout the tournament and they did a great job of taking advantage of playing at their home course," said Porten. "We did our best to stay with them but we did a nice job to separate ourselves from the field. We're starting to gain some consistency with our approach, club selection and putting from one through five in our lineup."

Porten continued and looked ahead to next weekend's tournament at Purdue.

"We're happy to see everyone finish in the top-25, it's what you dream of as a coach and that's something we've talked about as a group since January," Porten said. "We'll be on short rest this week but we know what we need to work on and where we need to get sharper against a quality, Big Ten field at Purdue."

Northern Illinois will return to action Saturday, April 15 for the Boilermaker Invitational at the Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind. It is the 10th-consecutive year the Huskies have attended the tournament.

FINAL STANDINGS: 1 Missouri - 295-283-279=857 (-7); 2. NIU - 294-295-286=875 (+11); 3. Austin Peay - 296-300-294=890 (+26); 4. SIUE - 300-297-296=893 (+29); 5. Little Rock - 307-296-295=898 (+34); 6. Northern Iowa - 294-310-295=899 (+35); 7. Missouri State - 302-301-299=902 (+38); t8. UMKC - 306-300-300=906 (+42); t8. Illinois State - 302-304-300=906 (+42); 10. IUPUI - 298-306-303=907 (+43); 11. Central Arkansas - 306-298-304=908  +44); t12. Drake - 303-301-306=910 (+46); t12. South Dakota - 304-308-298=910 (+46); 14. South Dakota State - 310-301-303=914 (+50); 15. Western Illinois - 300-312-303=915 (+51); 16. Nicholls State - 305-309-315=929 (+65); 17. Creighton - 315-310-305=930 (+66); 18. Morehead State - 312-326-303=941 (+77) 

FINAL TOP-10: 1. Linus Lilliedahl (MIZZOU) - 73-70-68=211 (-5); t2. Erik Hedberg  (APSU) - 71-72-69=212 (-4); t2. Hayden Buckley (MIZZOU) - 75-70-67=212 (-4); 4. Matt Echelmeier* (MIZZOU) - 71-71-71=213 (-3); t5. Austin Crowder (IUPUI) - 67-70-77=214 (-2); t6. Zach Burry (ISU) - 68-72-75=215 (-1); t6 Euan Walker (MIZZOU) - 72-71-72=215 (-1); 8. Tom Vining (USD) - 70-75-71=216 (E); 9. Jordan Less (NIU) - 72-75-70=217 (+1); t9 Dustin Atkinson (UNI) - 69-74-74=217 (+1)

NIU INDIVIDUALS: 9. Jordan Less - 72-75-70=217 (+1); 11. Salvador Rocha - 76-68-74=218 (+2); t15. Charlie Cameron - 73-76-73=222 (+6); t18. Thomas DeMarco - 75-76-72=223 (+7); t21. Matt Cholod - 74-80-71=225 (+9)

* - played as individual